A gas turbine engine (“GTE”) includes a turbine assembly that extracts energy from a flow of hot combustion gases. Turbine assemblies include one or more turbine rotor assemblies mounted on a drive shaft. Each turbine rotor assembly includes a plurality of turbine blades extending radially outward from a rim of a rotor (or disk) of the turbine rotor assembly. The hot combustion gases flowing through the turbine assembly push on the blades to rotate the rotor, and consequently the drive shaft. The rotating drive shaft is used to power a load, for example, a generator, a compressor, or a pump.
A turbine blade typically includes a root structure and an airfoil extending from opposite sides of a turbine blade platform. The turbine rotor includes a slot for receiving the root structure of each turbine blade. The shape of each slot may be similar in shape to the root structure of each turbine blade. When a plurality of turbine blades are assembled on the turbine rotor, an under-platform cavity may be formed between and beneath turbine platforms of adjacent turbine blades. Components, such as damper seals, are positioned within the under-platform cavity for regulating the flow of compressed gas. One example of such a component is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,097,429 to Athans et al. (“the '429 patent”). The '429 patent discloses a rotor disk including a plurality of turbine blades that include an airfoil, a platform, and a shank. A seal body, including an enlarged plate at a forward end and a smaller plate at the aft end, is positioned between the shanks of adjacent turbine blades. The enlarged plate overlaps portions of forward faces of adjacent turbine blade shanks to provide a seal.